Hansie Cronje may have been murdered

[LahoriMunda]

**Hansie Cronje may have been murdered **

Wisden CricInfo staff - August 3, 2003
The death of Hansie Cronje, South Africa’s disgraced former captain who was killed in a plane crash in the Western Cape in June 2002, may have been no accident, according to a report in the latest edition of Observer Sport Monthly. The report alleges that Cronje, who had been banned for life from cricket for his part in the match-fixing scandal, may have been murdered to ensure that the full extent of the corruption never reached the light of day.

Cronje, who had been forging a new career as a businessman, was killed along with two pilots when his chartered plane crashed in mountains near his estate in George, a small town on South Africa’s Garden Route. It later transpired that Cronje had missed an earlier flight and had arranged a lift in a cargo plane, but at the time no suspicious circumstances were reported. Given that Cronje was a devout Christian, it struck many as being the ultimate act of divine retribution.

But Gavin Branson, the chief executive of AirQuarius, the owners of the crashed plane, is one of many people who remains troubled by the circumstances. “There are a lot of unknowns about what happened,” Branson is reported as saying. “I think it will be a long time before the [Civil Aviation Authority] report comes out. I have a million questions that I haven’t even started asking yet. We’d been flying that route daily and in far worse weather without experiencing even a hint of trouble.”

The investigation is destined to take a long time, especially as there are unconfirmed rumours that the ground landing system at George Airport had been tampered with. “I understand that police have found evidence of sabotage,” one investigator is reported as saying. “But they’re reluctant to go public on this. The full cost of a follow-up investigation would be too great in a country that is already riven by crime. It suits the police to have a closed case.”

“A lot of people wanted Cronje dead,” adds the source. “They feared that he would one day tell the full truth, and then many more would be implicated. I know people who have looked closely into what happened but who were warned off by threatening phone calls. They’re scared of getting a bullet in the head.”

Cronje, who first stood in as South Africa’s captain at the age of 24, finished his career with a record of 27 victories in 53 Tests, making him South Africa’s most successful captain in Test history. He scored 3,714 runs at an average of 36.4, including six centuries, and to this day remains revered by many of his former team-mates, despite his spectacular fall from grace.

At the King Commission in 2000-01, which investigated the extent to which match-fixing had permeated the game, Cronje confessed to what he called “an unfortunate love of money”. He claimed to have accepted at least $130,000 from illegal bookmakers, although recent revelations suggest that he possessed as many as 72 bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. His death, one way or another, has ensured that the full story may never be told.

**Click here to read the full Observer Sport Monthly article **
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd

[Talha]

There may well be some truth into this - I mean it does make sense as there may well have been other members of the team that were involved - who knows? – I’m not accusing anyone of anything of course but if there were others involved the only way to be sure that this would never come out would be to get rid of Hansie - and the only way to do that would be to kill him - either that or pay him off. But the thing is that if he was murdered then there is still a huge possibility of carrying out a successful investigation to find the truth - All records of the crash should still be in existance so there’s no problem there and I’m sure there will be others who knew what was going on - especially the book-makers who would more than willing to give information should think as it would help their cases – Also there is of course the question of whether Hansie knew what was happening and he confided in someone? This could become a very big thing and if there is evidence to suggest other members (who are currently active and currently contracted to play for South Africa) then South Africa could be removed from World Cricket by the ICC and could be given life-long isolation meaning they would never be able to practise the laws of the game while the game was still being run by the ICC – A full investigation will be opened and I hope they find out the truth.

[ehsan]

Why do we have to look for conspiracy theories everywhere? If it is true that many people wanted him dead they could have hired a professional assain to do that job rather than crash a plane. Secondly as far as I can remember cronje was booked on a regular flight, which he missed and then took this chartered flight at the last moment. His assains must be very clever to know that he was going to miss the regular flight and take the chartered flight and had enough time to sabotage it.

[sherrybaba]

^ Case solved by desi sherlock. I'm impressed :)

Why was there any controversy at the first place?

[Talha]

Yeah but that’s the thing ehsan – I mean what if Hansie cancelling his previous flight had something do with it? There were actually rumours going around that he was still alive but I doubt that’s true! It does seem more and more likely that there is something more behind this than is being let on – apparantly there were things brought up recently to do with Hansie and other members of the South African team before all this became public knowledge - but now with the emergance of this the other links could become unrelated.

[EntityParadigm]

*Originally posted by ehsan: *
Why do we have to look for conspiracy theories everywhere? If it is true that many people wanted him dead they could have hired a professional assain to do that job rather than crash a plane. Secondly as far as I can remember cronje was booked on a regular flight, which he missed and then took this chartered flight at the last moment. His assains must be very clever to know that he was going to miss the regular flight and take the chartered flight and had enough time to sabotage it.

and wht if he was forced to miss that flight? maybe they didn’t wanted to kill many ppl [regular flight] so they made him miss that flight and killed him through that chartered flight. i mean wht is impossible in todays world? :~)

[ehsan]

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by EntityParadigm: *

and wht if he was forced to miss that flight? maybe they didn't wanted to kill many ppl [regular flight] so they made him miss that flight and killed him through that chartered flight. i mean wht is impossible in todays world? :~)
[/QUOTE]

Bhai mere if they forced him to miss the plane they could have also kidnapped him and thrown him off the cliff. Think about it. Seems bit too far fetched.

[EntityParadigm]

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ehsan: *

Bhai mere if they forced him to miss the plane they could have also kidnapped him and thrown him off the cliff. Think about it. Seems bit too far fetched.
[/QUOTE]

kidnapping and throwing off the cliff are way too visible kind off tactics and maybe the MOB wasn't ready to use such tactics to reveal itself. :~)

[Talha]

*Originally posted by ehsan: *

Bhai mere if they forced him to miss the plane they could have also kidnapped him and thrown him off the cliff. Think about it. Seems bit too far fetched.

But then how would the pilots explain where the body went? This way what they’re saying is that if he was murdered then it could have been by the 2 pilots - and they don’t know whether the body was ever found or not - that information has not been disclosed yet - But of course when it goes to court all that will come out - but now there are also accusations flying out that Hansie may not have been killed and the whole thing was a set up - and if (or should I say when) that goes to court then if there is no answer given or they cannot deicide for sure beyond a shadow of a doubt then Hansie’s (and the 2 pilot’s) graves will be exhumed.

[ehsan]

*Originally posted by Talha: *

But then how would the pilots explain where the body went? This way what they’re saying is that if he was murdered then it could have been by the 2 pilots - and they don’t know whether the body was ever found or not - that information has not been disclosed yet - But of course when it goes to court all that will come out - but now there are also accusations flying out that Hansie may not have been killed and the whole thing was a set up - and if (or should I say when) that goes to court then if there is no answer given or they cannot deicide for sure beyond a shadow of a doubt then Hansie’s (and the 2 pilot’s) graves will be exhumed.

[EntityParadigm]

*Originally posted by ehsan: *

^
same here. but then 'im scratching everywhere after reading this reply :~)

[Talha]

OK I’ll explain - Bear with me - I know sometimes I don’t make sense

Rumours were flying around (and these are just actually rumours - nothing official) that it could have been an insurance scam – Especially as Hansie would have now needed money as he was no longer a Cricketer - but these revalations came out much later - By then the apparant “funerals” of the 3 who died had taken place but the government never released any information of the bodies as to whether they had been found or not - Which then of course prompted the question of whether they had really died or not – And then of course there was the question that if they hadn’t then what? A Lot of unanswered questions – I think everyone just wants to find out the truth hopefully Hansie is still indeed alive.